What if tennis had a heavyweight championship?

Imagine if tennis had the equivalent of a heavyweight championship boxing belt (in addition to all the other current trophies on offer) where it gets passed on from winner to winner.

To simplify things, I will take the winner of the USO (the last slam played) as the starting point.

Murray is the reigning heavyweight champion of tennis (being the 2012 USO winner).

Raonic beats Murray in the SF in Tokyo to become the new heavyweight champion.

Nishikori beats Raonic in the final in Tokyo to become the new heavyweight champion.

Querrey beats Nishikori in R2 in Shangai to become the new heavyweight champion.

Berdyech beats Querrey in R3 in Shangai to become the new heavyweight champion.

Djokovic beats Berdyech in the SF in Shangai to become the new heavyweight champion.

Querrey beats Djokovic in R2 in the Paris Indoor and regains the heavyweight championship.

Llodra beats Querrey in the QF in the Paris Indoor to become the new heavyweight champion.

Ferrer beats Llodra in the SF in the Paris Indoor to become the new heavyweight champion.

Federer beats Ferrer in RR2 of the WTF to become the new heavyweight champion.

Del Potro beats Federer in RR3 of the WTF to become the new heavyweight champion.

Djokovic beats Del Potro in the SF of the WTF and regains the heavyweight championship.

Djokovic successfully defended the belt against Federer in the WTF final.

I hope I got the above sequence right. It was a tedious task following the sequence of matches for just 3 months, let alone a whole year.

Wherever Djok plays next, that’s where and when he will have to defend the belt again. If for whatever reason Djok could not play the AO, his AO title would be lost but he would still hold onto the heavyweight championship.

Just some basic assumptions:

Only official matches count, no exhibitions. Official matches includes Davis Cup and Hopman Cup. Singles only. Excludes matches like the Kooyong Classic. Official matches can be BO3 or BO5.

You have to assume it will stay with the top 4 most of the time, like everything else, because they usually win the tournament or lose to one of the other top guys--and even when they are upset, the surprise HWC usually loses to a top player and the cycle repeats

I guess you could award this retrospectively. Just find the winner of the first tournament ever played and work your way from there. Like I said, tracing results for just 3 months was tedious enough, doing it for 100+ years would be painful.

You have to assume it will stay with the top 4 most of the time, like everything else, because they usually win the tournament or lose to one of the other top guys--and even when they are upset, the surprise HWC usually loses to a top player and the cycle repeats

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It would provide journeymen with something to play for when they come up against seeds in the early rounds. To them 7 wins needed to win a slam must seem like an endless highway but being one win away from winning the belt may just motivate them enough to have a real crack and maybe cause an upset. They can then have their 15 minutes of fame. Imagine an AO wildcard knocking off Djok in the 1st round and claiming the belt? After the match he gets to hold up the belt and then drape it over his shoulder as he leaves the arena. What a thrill for him. He'll lose it eventually within the fortnight but at least he can say he held the belt, even if for a couple of days.

This is dumb, what happens if Novak loses to some rank 120 player in a freak upset in the final of Belgrade or something? But then that player gets injured? Takes time off? Then we'll have a heavyweight title circulating the challengers.